


Intermediate Character Development

by trobedrights



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst but only a little bit, Episode: s02e10 Mixology Certification, Episode: s02e15 Early 21st Century Romanticism, First Kiss, Getting Together, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, troy is GAY and i stand by that til i die
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:42:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26944627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trobedrights/pseuds/trobedrights
Summary: Abed accepts the guy at the bar's offer. Troy finds out.
Relationships: Troy Barnes/Abed Nadir
Comments: 13
Kudos: 172





	Intermediate Character Development

**Author's Note:**

> i kinda just. threw this together idk it was gonna be longer but nope

“Abed. Would you like to have gay sex with me?”

Abed glances over at Troy, who’s looking wistfully at Britta, then back at the man sitting in front of him, and shrugs. He’s reasonably attractive. “Sure.”

Abed hasn’t slept with a man since Halloween. He can’t really explain why; it’s just that it feels like something happened, even if he can’t put his finger on it, and now it feels...unfaithful. And every time the possibility arrives, he can’t stop himself from thinking about Troy, for some reason. Probably because he used to be homophobic, and who knows, maybe he still is, and maybe it’s rubbing off on Abed.

But Troy is over there talking to Jeff and Britta, and Abed figures he should get over whatever this is, so he heads over to them, makes up some lie about feeling tired, and sneaks out of the bar with Robert.

They go back to his dorm room and go through the motions. It’s not awful; just boring. And Abed still has a weird feeling in his stomach that he manages to ignore throughout the ordeal, but when they’re lying in bed next to each other afterwards, he can’t push it away anymore.

Robert asks if he can sleep there, which seems strange to Abed, because this is just a hookup, but he lets him.

An hour later, Troy walks in the door.

Troy stopped knocking after about a week of them being friends, which normally Abed doesn’t mind. He usually knows or can predict when Troy is coming over, so he makes sure not to be doing anything that would scar Troy for life if he walked in on it.

Troy makes a sudden noise, and Abed stares at him blankly, the gross emotion he’s feeling only growing. “Hi, Troy.”

“You ditched me on my birthday to sleep with some... _dude_?”

“Yes. Sorry.”

Robert wakes up then. “Oh, shit, is this your boyfriend?”

“No.”

Troy looks over at him. “ _No_! What the hell, Abed, I didn’t even know you were…”

Robert tries to put a protective arm around him. Abed swats him away; it feels disgusting. “Can you just leave?” he whispers to him.

So Robert leaves, and Troy and Abed are left staring at each other. Abed is suddenly uncomfortably aware that he’s almost naked, even if he’s mostly covered by the blanket.

“Are you mad at me? Don’t lie; friends don’t lie.”

Troy sighs. “Yeah. I mean, kinda. Not really? I’m confused.” He walks over and sits next to the bed, leaning his head against it. “I had a shitty night.”

Abed is surprised, because Troy barely ever curses. “Are you drunk?”

“No. I wish. I ended up being the designated driver on my own birthday. Jeff and Britta have been so annoying this whole night.”

Abed feels a twinge of happiness at Troy calling Britta annoying, but he tries to shake it away because he knows that’s not how you should feel when your best friend is mad at his crush. He’s probably just worried about how Troy/Britta would affect the fabric of the group.

“Yeah, I don’t think any of us had a good night.”

“You just got laid.”

“He wasn’t all that good, though.” Which was true, but there were other reasons it wasn’t good, which Abed wasn’t really willing to dig into right now.

“Were you gonna tell me you’re gay?”

“Not gay. Bisexual. And it never really came up, plus I guess I was worried you would think it was weird.”

“Because of me in high school?”

“Because of you in high school.”

“Abed, I’m not like I was anymore. Greendale changed me. _You_ changed me.”

Abed smiles slightly. “I did help you find your character arc.” 

“I’m not my archie-type anymore,” Troy says. 

“Archetype. And yeah, not really.”

“What do you mean not really?”

“You’re still insecure, and threatened by people who are more masculine than you. You want to be an adult, but you have no idea how to be.”

Troy looks at Abed with hurt in his eyes. “What the hell, man?”

Abed cocks his head. “You asked.”

“You weren’t supposed to...psychoanalyze me!” 

“But you asked.”

“That doesn’t always mean…” he takes a deep breath. “Abed. Just please don’t say that kind of stuff about me.”

“Even if it’s true?”

“Especially if it’s true.”

They stop looking at each other and sit in an uncomfortable silence. “Do you want me to leave?” Troy finally asks. 

“You can stay in the top bunk,” Abed says. “If you want.”

Troy hesitates, then says, “Can we sleep in the same bunk?”

Abed looks over at him. “What?”

“No! Not like...just. Sometimes I need someone to be with me when I go to sleep.”

Abed scoots over. “Okay.”

They lie next to each other, almost touching, until Troy says, “Do you remember anything from Halloween?”

“No one does.”

“I know, but it feels like something big happened. Like, with us.”

“Yeah. I feel it too.”

They’re both on their sides now, facing each other, and suddenly Troy leans in and kisses Abed. He’s surprised at first, but melts into it, cupping Troy’s face and pulling him in.

Troy pushes him away for a second and says, “I’m not gay.”

Abed looks at him. “You’re kissing a man right now.”

“Yeah, but it’s you. It’s not the same, right?”

“So you’re saying I’m an exception. And you’re just going to use me for your homosexual awakening.”

“What? No! I mean, the first one...I guess? You’re my best friend. It doesn’t have to make me gay.”

Abed shakes his head. “I can’t do that.”

“Why not? I mean, don’t you want to?”

“Yes, but not like that. I’m not going to be your exception, and I’m not going to exist to further character development.”

Troy is speechless. “Abed, I’m...I didn’t mean it like that, I just. I’m straight, y’know?"

Abed remains stoic, staring at the wall. Troy exhales slowly and stands up. “Okay. Good night, Abed.” 

They try to ignore what happened, until it’s Valentine’s Day and a hot girl says she wants to go out with Troy and Troy turns her down because he doesn’t understand how someone couldn’t like Abed.

At this point, Abed’s accepted his feelings for Troy, and he’s accepted that Troy might not ever be ready to reciprocate. But he doesn’t like watching Troy struggle so much, because it’s obvious to anyone who pays attention that Troy is not a straight man.

They walk back to Abed’s dorm room holding hands, like they used to. Abed doesn’t know how to breach the subject politely, so he just asks him straight-up. “Do you have feelings for me?”

Troy sputters. “Um, what?”

“Do you have feelings for me?”

“I didn’t think we were gonna- I thought we weren’t talking- Remember what happened on my birthday?”

“Yes. That’s part of the reason I’m asking. I didn’t want to bring it up because it made you uncomfortable, but it’s also making you uncomfortable to keep repressing yourself.”

Troy scoffs. “I’m not repressing anything, Abed, just because I know you and Clive Owen are attractive-”

“So you are attracted to me.”

“ _Abed_. I told you this this last time. I’m straight.”

“And I told you I wasn’t here to further your character arc, but I think maybe I have to be.”

“It’s not a show, Abed,” Troy says in a desperate attempt to change the subject, but Abed just looks at him, because he knows that Troy is one of the only ones who understands that he knows that. They’re just empty words he’s flinging around.

“Sorry, that was stupid,” Troy says. “I was just…”

“I know.”

They’re standing outside Abed’s room inches from each other, and for a brief second Abed wonders if they can do the start-making-out-while-in-the-middle-of-an-argument trope, because he’s never done that and it seems kinda fun, but he shakes himself from that because this is real; he has to help Troy.

Troy opens the door and goes straight to the top bunk, sitting criss-cross applesauce on it. Abed sits on the bottom, hunched over, twiddling his fingers together. “We’ve never really done the deep-sleepover-conversations trope,” he says tentatively. That should be safe enough; Troy doesn’t have to look at him while they talk, and he can get out all the feelings he wants to get out.

Any other person would think Abed was just checking things off a bucket list, but Troy gets it. He knows that Abed isn’t trying to make the world into TV; he’s just trying to make it make sense through the lens of TV. So Troy nods. “Yeah. Deep sleepover conversations.”

After a second of quiet, he says, “You’re right. I never wanted to admit you were right, but you are. You always are. I guess I was just scared. I’m not really over trying to be the perfect Jehovah’s Witness football star. Like you said that night. I’m not done with my character arc. And I do want you to help me complete my arc, but not like I’m using you. I want us to go through our arcs together.”

Abed thinks that’s maybe the most romantic thing anyone’s ever said to him.

“So I guess I’m gay, and I guess I like you. And if you still like me and aren’t totally annoyed by me then…”

Troy stops speaking because Abed has stood up and put his mouth against his. So he did still get to do the stopping someone’s words with a kiss scene, even if it wasn’t during an argument.

Troy entangles his hands in Abed’s hair, Abed standing up on his tiptoes to reach him better.

“Going through our arcs together,” Abed murmurs against Troy’s lips. 

They both sleep in the top bunk that night, Abed’s arms wrapped around Troy. 

“We should move in together. Over the summer.”

“What about jumping the shark?”

“We’re way past the shark.”

Troy snuggles into Abed’s chest. “Yeah,” he says happily.

Abed smiles and leans his head against Troy’s. “Yeah.”

**Author's Note:**

> and then they lived happily ever after and graduated greendale together and got married and adopted a daughter and what is geothermal escapism never heard of it


End file.
